Large abdominal measurement

[TheDuckQuacks]

Other than gestational diabetes, are there any other known causes of this?

Is this a

Sorry, stupid phone!

Is this an ongoing issue or a one off? I had the opposite problem in my first pregnancy, and the sonographer said that the abdominal measurement was the least reliable because the baby can swallow liquid/wee so it changes size a lot throughout the day even.

Do you have a follow up or was it just recorded in your notes?

DC1 was measuring 97th percentile. No GD. Now DC3 measuring over 97th percentile and I have developed GD in the last few weeks only. Glucose test at 28 weeks was negative. I’m 37 weeks and induction is booked for next week.

How many weeks are you? Have you had more than one growth scan?

Squished long baby... My 1 week old was measuring huge on abdomen at 38 weeks and just under 95th from 20 weeks.

Despite being 8lbs he needs size 0 nappies and is long and scrawny with narrow shoulders... looking at him I can't work out how he ever fit between my pelvis and my ribs...

Hi - I’m in the same boat so following with interest.

At 16, 20 and 28 weeks scans abdominal circumference has been off the chart (literally). I’ve been tested for GD around 24 weeks and negative.

I’m 5ft 8 and partner is 6ft 3 so maybe we have a long squashed baby??

I never quite triggered the GTT (either head or abdomen on line but never both) and no sugar in urine. Only measured huge at 38 weeks.

Had a lot of trouble breathing from about 28 weeks onwards too.

Mine is just a big baby 😂

How does it track with your other measurements? Is it a one off, or is it consistently high?

I was told that it can be influenced by how much fluid baby has currently swallowed, which totally threw one of my growth scans and had the consultants very worried! It was back to normal by the next scan though.

Thank you for your responses.

I do think it is the way I grow babies but I’m worrying about it. DC1 was about 90th centile at 20 weeks (last scan I had) and I didn’t have a GTT. Then in my last pregnancy my DC was just over 95th centile at 20 weeks and well over it at 28 weeks (last scan I had). I had a negative GTT at around 26 weeks. In this pregnancy, at 16 weeks, the baby was already just over the 95th centile so already off the chart.

I’m just worried it means something that hasn’t been picked up. If it was just the one scan, or one baby, I’d think it was a one off, but it seems too coincidental to happen to three different babies. I’ve never had sugar in my urine in any pregnancy and no family risk of diabetes.

I was just popping on to say GD. Mine wasn’t picked up til 33 weeks.

Have you raised concerns with your GP or pg consultant ?

I know I definitely didn’t have GD last pregnancy, despite the measurement being off the chart so I have to assume I won’t this time either which was why I wondered what else it could signify.

I’ll be having a GTT again this pregnancy and will also discuss it with my consultant at my next appointment. I just wanted to be armed with other things it could mean in case my worries are brushed off.

OP, my GD wasn’t picked up through GTT test, nor has it ever shown up in urine. However, I was asked to test blood sugars for a week and those tests picked up GD. Most readings were boarderline, but still enough indication to be diagnosed with GD.

I’m not medicated for it, but have to follow diet control as a measure against GD.

Even today, urine test did not pick anything up, yet Pin prick testing did ...

I'm short bodied despite being 5"7. I've had four babies and measured big with all of them. I got bigger with each one. I did have gd with one but actually I was only measuring a couple of cms bigger it was more that the midwife could feel lots of extra fluid.
With number four I was measuring 50cms at 39 weeks. I wasn't overweight and was a 10/12 before being pregnancy. He was 8lb10 so not huge it was just the way I carried my babies.

lozengeoflove I know for certain I didn’t have GD last time when the measurements were off the scale. Do you mind saying what the reason was that you had to test blood sugars for a week when you had otherwise negative GTT and urine tests?

It does sound like if it isn’t GD, it’s just long babies. The two previous babies with the big abdominal measurement have also all had very high measuring femur lengths as well, which would make sense. This baby doesn’t seem to have such long legs; just a big tummy and everything else is average.

Apologies I completely misunderstood!

DC1 was 9.3 lb and always measured on the 97th percentile. Only had GTT with her and that came back negative.

This time, I’ve been measuring large, baby’s been measuring off the charts, and I’ve put on lots of —even more than first time— weight. So, consultant wanted to make sure it wasn’t GD and hence the blood sugar monitoring.

My babies have been comparatively light (7lbs is the heaviest) but I think I will ask my consultant for further testing is a GTT comes back as negative this times. My fundal measurement has always been fine (sometimes under and I’ve had to have growth scans for a potentially small baby before) so it really is just the big tummy that stands out.

Thank you for sharing.

i had a similar situation with large abdominal measurements and also excess fluid - I had a GTT and did a week of fingerprick testing x 2 - all negative. Turned out to be 10.5lb baby who still has had a huge torso now as a toddler - he has to wear tops 2 sizes larger than his age! Just one of those things, he's absolutely healthy, just odd proportions.

I’ve just checked and at all scans the amount of fluid has been normal in all pregnancies. I suppose if long then the stomach will often be bigger as they will be folded over. I’ll try to remember that when worrying.

Just to update in case anyone else reads this and wonders. My consultant said that both my DH and me are tall so she would expect to see a long baby. Apparently long babies often have bigger abdominal measurements. I’m going to have a GTT anyway to double check all is ok and another scan soon to see if it is increasing.

Hello duck. Just to add, I had my baby yesterday and he weighed 7.8 lbs! So all that talk of huge baby and off the charts abdominal circumference measurements came to nothing.

He’s my smallest baby

My ds had an enormously fat tummy. He was born at 36 weeks and 6 days and weighed 8lb 10oz. I definitely didn't have diabetes and DS has no medical issues at all (apart from an annoying habit of trying to shoot his sisters with nerf guns at every opportunity).